Afghan strongman shows he is still ‘King of the North’

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan: A powerful former Afghan governor at the centre of a growing political crisis over his refusal to stand down permitted his appointed successor on Tuesday to set foot in his province for a funeral, sources have told AFP.

It is the first time Mohammad Daud has publicly visited Balkh since President Ashraf Ghani’s office announced on December 18 that he would replace Atta Mohammad Noor as governor of the northern province.

Noor, nicknamed “King of the North”, has refused to leave the post he has held since 2004, rejecting a claim by Ghani’s office that he had resigned and throwing up a challenge to the president’s authority. The tussle with Noor — which many fear could turn violent — comes at a bad time for Ghani, whose government faces a deteriorating security situation with the Taliban and the Islamic State group stepping up attacks in recent months. Afghan and Western sources told AFP that Daud flew from Kabul, where he has been working during the dispute, to the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif to attend his father’s funeral after Ghani’s office struck a deal with Noor.

Under the agreement, Daud will return to the Afghan capital after the ceremony, highlighting the enormous power Noor still wields despite being officially stripped of his position. Daud exited the airport near Mazar-i-Sharif surrounded by heavy security before and was whisked away in an armoured SUV on Tuesday, an AFP reporter said.

For the past month, Noor has made almost daily speeches to hundreds of supporters that have been broadcast live on television, highlighting the intense interest in the stand-off between the strongman and the president.